COLUMBUS, Ohio—Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday signed a controversial “stand your ground” bill that would eliminate Ohio’s “duty to retreat” before using force in self-defense.

Senate Bill 175, fast-tracked through the Ohio General Assembly last month by DeWine’s fellow Republicans, will make Ohio the 36th state to no longer require people to retreat before they can justifiably hurt or kill someone in self-defense.

The governor had previously hinted that he would veto SB175, saying he first wanted lawmakers to pass his package of gun reforms that they sat on for more than a year. But in a release sent Monday afternoon, the governor stated that the measure removes an “ambiguity in Ohio’s self-defense law.”

“I have always believed that it is vital that law-abiding citizens have the right to legally protect themselves when confronted with a life-threatening situation,” DeWine said in a statement. The governor added that he signed the bill in a “spirit of cooperation” with the newly seated 134th Ohio General Assembly.

Until now, under Ohio law, people have been justified in using deadly force in self-defense so long as they aren’t the aggressor, believe they are in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and are in their home or vehicle. The new law, which takes effect in 90 days, removes the “home or vehicle” requirement, and instead states that the defendant need only be in a place where they lawfully have the right to be.

Proponents of the measure say it gives law-abiding citizens the right to protect themselves. The Buckeye Firearms Association said in a release that DeWine promised them and other gun-rights groups multiple times that he would sign such a bill.

“While this bill changes one technicality in Ohio law, it does not change the near universal and well-established standard for use of lethal force, nor does it give criminals a free pass to commit violent crime,” Buckeye Firearms said in a statement.

“Crimes can happen quickly and without warning. Most victims have a split second to react with the best course of action for their survival,” said John Weber, Ohio state director for the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, in a statement. “By signing SB 175, Gov. DeWine ensures the law favors victims and not criminals.”

“Only cowards would pass and sign a bill that has been proven to disproportionately harm Black people,” said House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat, in a statement. “Only cowards would support a bill that allows people to shoot first and ask questions later. The blood of the lives lost from the signing and passage of this bill rest solely on those who supported it.”

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, a Democrat, said on Twitter that she “can’t express” her level of disappointment with DeWine for signing the bill after he pledged to respond to public calls for him to “do something” against gun violence following a 2019 mass shooting in Dayton.

DeWine’s gun-reform plan, which he proposed after the Dayton shooting, would create a voluntary state-level background check process for gun sales between private sellers and expand the state’s existing “pink-slip” law to allow authorities to send people with drug or alcohol problems to a psychiatric hospital, where they cannot legally have access to guns. The governor has also asked state lawmakers to toughen state penalties for a number of gun-related crimes.